Denki had become a ball of nerves since the almost-kiss happened with Neito that his soulmate had just happened to witness. Denki didn't know what to say to Neito, so he just avoided him. Denki didn't want his face smashed in, so he avoided Hitoshi as well. How was he supposed to explain to Hitoshi that it was probably fine because he desperately wants to kiss him, too? He'd probably get punched twice. Maybe even brainwashed to hold still so Hitoshi could get the perfect aim lined up, and Denki would let him and not break free because he would deserve everything that happened to him. What had he been thinking? He hadn't been thinking at all, was the issue. He was just so happy that Neito wasn't angry with him and the buzz of electricity zapping around and not making him feel disoriented like usual… he was high on the feeling, and he wanted to kiss Neito, so it didn't even cross his mind to stop him.
He had to talk to someone about this, and he knew exactly who he could speak with to get an objective view of the situation. He knew exactly how talking to any of his friends would go, and he was too cowardly to go directly to the source, so that left one option who was detached, completely removed from the situation, and able to give him an objective standpoint and tell him what an idiot he had been.
"So, you almost kissed someone who isn't your soulmate. So what? It happens all the time," High5UrDead's voice crackled through the headset Denki was wearing. After a pause to give full concentration to shooting the incoming zombie hoard, he continued, "it's not like you kissed someone who has a soulmate himself, right?"
Denki opted to shoot a zombie coming from behind Fri3ndlyFir3 instead of answering.
"Right?! P05itiv3R3v0lt?!" High5UrDead demanded after Denki's lack of response.
After a few more seconds of giving no response, Denki's headset crackled to life with the sound of manic laughter from Fri3ndlyFir3.
"Shit," High5UrDead muttered.
"I know," Denki whined into the headset, dropping his head back against his chair in resignation.
"Is the soulmate going to come after you?" Fri3ndlyFir3 asked after recovering from his laughing fit, still heaving from the intense feeling of schadenfreude.
"I don't know. Maybe?" Denki offered, closing his eyes, and bracing himself for his next confession, "but I'd like to kiss him, too."
"What the fuck?!" High5UrDead yelled through his headset, making Denki wince at the sudden volume blasting in his ears. "Let me get this straight," he demanded. "You're in love with two people who happen to be soulmates with each other?!"
"That about sums it up," Denki admitted, sinking down into his chair.
Being said aloud by another person made him feel terrible. There was no redeeming that, was there?
"So, if I drop off the face of the planet and don't meet you guys on here, you have to promise me that you aren't going to rat them out to the heroes for killing me and disposing of my body," Denki insisted with a laugh, even though he was semi-serious. "It would be exactly what I deserve."
"We wouldn't rat them out to the heroes," High5UrDead promised automatically, almost sneeringly, but Denki didn't think too much about it, just accepting it as imaginative banter between online friends.
At the same time, in the current League of Villains' hideout, Dabi and Shigaraki were lounging in the shared living area, headsets on and controllers in hand. Dabi turned to Shigaraki with a wide, manic smile on his face.
"We'd track them down ourselves?" Dabi inquired, after muting his headset so P05itiv3R3v0lt wouldn't overhear.
"No one messes with our P05itiv3R3v0lt," Shigaraki confirmed, gloved hands tightening around his controller, and meeting Dabi's manic eyes with a mischievous look of his own. "They'd wish they were turned in to the heroes once we'd finish with them."
Denki was nervous, but also excited, for the sports festival. Whenever he thought about it, he became nauseous from the butterflies crashing into the walls of his stomach.
While complaining about his tragic love life was reserved for his online friends, he shared his hesitations about the upcoming sports festival with his Class 1-A friends.
"Oi, Dunce face! Are you paying attention?" Bakugou barked at Denki, who was staring off into space and not working through the math problem in front of him.
"Sorry, Kacchan," Denki soothed with a smile before looking down, furrowing his brow at the seemingly impossible question.
He had started off strong, but it seemed that he was falling behind once again in his studies. No matter how much he studied, or how long Bakugou would coach him through the problems, he just wasn't grasping it as easily as he used to. Denki was worried that maybe his quirk was catching up with him and affecting his memory and cognitive ability, but his literature and language grades were better than they ever were, so he was hopeful that it wasn't anything permanent that a little extra studying couldn't handle.
"What's on your mind, Kami?" Kirishima asked.
Bakugou groaned and slammed his book shut, sulkily accepting that the study session was about to turn into a support group and no work would be done.
"It's just anxiety about the sports festival coming up," Denki attempted to brush off with a shrug, knowing that he really did need the study time.
"I know exactly how you feel!" Ashido exclaimed, throwing her books and supplies to the side to scoot closer to Denki.
"Can't relate," Bakugou interjected, nonchalantly leaning back against the wall. "I know I'm going to win, so it's not a big deal."
The group laughed, but they all knew deep down that he was serious. His confidence was well-earned, too. They had all seen the way he trains, the way he studies, the way he goes all out in every single exercise. They all saw how every win wasn't quite good enough for Bakugou, and how every loss tore him apart only for him to piece himself back together even stronger and not allow himself to make the same mistake twice. Truthfully, they all had complete confidence in their friend, and they all hoped to be up there near the top of the rankings with him.
It turns out that Denki did better than he thought he would. Of course, he would lose to Shiozaki. He thought he had an easy win, but further research into electricity and vines showed him where he went wrong.
Denki was so proud of Midoriya for winning the first round. For such a late bloomer quirk-wise, he was really catching up and determined to bypass them all, it seemed like.
Denki tried to keep his eyes and attention away from Neito and Hitoshi, but it was just so hard. Denki kept a watchful eye on Neito's group. Having such an intense group made up of Iida, Todoroki, and Yaoyorozu, though, he had his work cut out for him that he didn't have a spare second to look around for Neito until their groups would pass by each other. Denki would quickly dart his eyes away and he wouldn't notice that Neito's gaze would linger until they focused on his next target.
Denki watched with bated breath as Hitoshi almost beat Midoriya and was so excited that everyone had just witnessed how powerful he was, thinking that maybe he would get the chance to move into the hero course and be with Neito or himself. He stopped at that thought, though. Why would Hitoshi ever want to be in a class with him after he almost kissed his soulmate?
It was also very cool of Midoriya to coax Todoroki into using his fire, even though that turned out to be counterproductive if Midoriya ever wanted a chance of winning.
It was like a bucket of cold water being spilled over him when the winners were presented for the audience and cameras, and there stood Bakugou in the number one position, just like he said he would, but not of his own accord. He was strapped to a cement pillar, shackled, and muzzled. He was struggling and Denki could hear his muffled yells, even through the nasty comments that the crowd was throwing his way.
As someone yelled out about him acting like an animal and how he was going to turn into a villain with that attitude, Denki slapped a hand over his mouth and turned around to retch, trying his best not to vomit everywhere.
Was this his fault somehow?
Maybe someone who helps run the sports festival saw the protest he had organized at the mall. What if that gave someone the idea of using muzzles on misbehaving children instead of informing them of the horrors of some practices in the foster care system? It was a lesson that Denki had to learn eventually: That good deeds and good intentions don't always have good results.
Thankfully, Denki was socially aware enough to never mention this possibility to Bakugou. The last thing he would ever need was to have one of his friends make his traumatic experience about themselves instead of offering support. Support that Bakugou would scoff at, but secretly appreciate, nonetheless.
It was this incident that made Denki talk to Neito and Hitoshi before he felt ready. To be honest, he would have never felt ready, but it felt like it was way too soon.
Denki braced himself when he caught up to the two soulmates leaving school grounds after the crowds had dispersed, ready to be yelled at or even punched, ready for tears and accusations, ready for the request to just leave them alone already… but none of that came. They just stood there, open looks on their faces, ready to hear him out.
And instead of begging for forgiveness, because again, he wasn't really sorry if he couldn't tell them he regretted it and would never do it again, could he? Instead of begging for forgiveness, he asked them for help. And like the best friends they were, they ignored the looming problem over their strained relationship, and helped Denki with what he requested, putting the issue on hold until a better time to discuss it.
"I can call Momo tonight," Hitoshi volunteered.
"We can all meet tomorrow morning, at 4:00 a.m., and get started," Neito added. "I'll start researching tonight. Ask Momo to email me anything that would help me."
Hitoshi nodded in agreement.
Denki sighed, shaking off his nerves, and added, "I'll bring the donuts and ice cream."
"Donuts and ice cream for breakfast?!" Neito exclaimed, eyes wide, looking between his two favorite people in the world. He cherished the moment, knowing that it might not last, and added, "can it be chocolate?"
"Anything for you!" Denki had chirped before thinking it through.
He groaned to himself as he walked to the train station, wondering why in the hell he thought it would be a good idea to tell Neito "anything for you" with Hitoshi standing right there. Then, he had to go and make it worse by trying to backtrack and tell Hitoshi that he would also do anything for him, as well.
As Denki rushed away from the pair of soulmates, they turned to look at each other, smiles stretching across their faces, and not bothering to hide their flushed faces from the excitement of talking to Denki again and the adorable, awkward encounter that just took place. They might not have talked about what they needed to, but at least Denki was looking at them and talking to them again.
As Denki fell asleep, he was just grateful that Hitoshi didn't punch him in the face. Then he immediately felt nervous that maybe the punch was coming later, or maybe that he hurt Hitoshi so much that he felt numb, and he wasn't even angry. Before Denki could continue to spiral into self-doubt and worst-case scenarios, a familiar lullaby started playing in his head, and he was out seconds later.
A/N: What are your favorite MHA ships? Favorite hero ship? Favorite student ship? Favorite villain ship? Favorite hero-villain ship? Favorite rare pair? Favorite crack ship? Favorite gay ship? Favorite lesbian ship? Favorite straight ship? Favorite villain AU character? Favorite trans headcanon character? Other favorite rare headcanons that you don't really see anywhere else?